Description Observing a young child solve a problem, master a new skill, reach a new milestone in development, is one of the greatest pleasures for adults committed to that child, whether parents or professional carers. When disability and developmental delay impact on the rate and the quality of the child’s attainments our observations must be more focused. In an earlier work, “Early Learning Step by Step’ Dr. Nielsen presented a rationale for Active Learning based on her philosophy that ‘if given the opportunity to learn from his own active exploration and examination, the child will achieve skills that become part of his personality, and so are natural for him to use in interaction with others, and for fulfillment of his own needs, and will gradually make him ready to develop to be as independent as possible’.
